Mordants, well-known in the photographic art, generally comprise materials containing quaternary ammonium groups as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,075,841; 3,271,148; 3,488,706; 4,379,838; and 4,814,255. Quaternary phosphonium groups have also been incorporated with certain polymer backbones to obtain different classes of mordants such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,547,649; 4,820,608; and 4,855,211; and 5,403,955.
The basic polymeric mordants useful to mordant a dye in a hydrophilic colloidal layer between a base and a photographic emulsion layer disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,695,531 comprise repeating units of formula: ##STR1##
wherein: R.sub.1 is hydrogen or a methyl group; A is a --COO-- or a --COO-alkylene group, e.g., --COOCH.sub.2 --, --COOCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 --, --COOCHOHCH.sub.2 --; R.sub.2 is a hydrogen or a lower alkyl group having from 1-4 carbon atoms; and X.sup.- is an anion, e.g., acetate, oxalate, sulfate, chloride, or bromide. Mordant I can comprise units derived from vinylic monomers, for example, acrylates, acrylamides, vinyl acetates, styrenes, vinyl ethers, vinyl ketones, vinyl alcohols, unsaturated chlorides, and nitrites with the proviso that such copolymerizable units be in a quantity of 10-20% by weight. Similar mordants with the exclusion of A in I are also disclosed in GB Patent No. 850,281.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,813 discloses several classes of polymeric mordants having a pendent heterocyclic aromatic moiety, e.g., a pyridyl or an imidazolyl group, as represented by the fomula II below: ##STR2##
wherein: X.sup.- represents an anion and n represents an integer of 2 or greater.
Mordants prepared by polymerizing or copolymerizing vinyl pyridine or N-alkyl pyridinium salts are also known in the art (see, for example, Italian Patent No. 931,270).
Non-diffusive mordants based on poly(N-vinylimidazole) of the type III are known in the art (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,631) and have been used in certain radiographic image-forming processes wherein the mordants were coupled with water-soluble dyes. Mordants of the type III as well as IV are also disclosed in Japanese Publn. No. 63-307979. ##STR3##
Other types of mordants for dyes are also known in the imaging arts. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,429,839 discloses mordants having pendant groups Y, such as the mordant of formula VI: ##STR4##
wherein: R.sub.1, R.sub.2, and R.sub.3 are alkyl, aryl, or aralkyl groups, or any two of R.sub.1, R.sub.2, or R.sub.3 are part of a 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic ring and X.sup.- is an anion, usually an anion of a mineral acid or a carboxylic acid having from 2 to 20 carbon atoms.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,547,649 discloses mordants of the following formulae: ##STR5##
wherein: R.sup.1, R.sup.2, and R.sup.3 are alkyl, aryl, or aralkyl groups or any two of R.sub.1, R.sub.2, or R.sub.3 are part of a 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic ring and X.sup.- is an anion.
Because of the advent of ink-jet printers, there is a continued demand in the industry for mordants which will control or stop ink-bleeding in ink-jet receptors and the like. It was against this background that research for such novel mordants was conducted.